To float across South Africa

a few years now so. “If something had gone horribly wrong it would have been pretty permanent. “There was a priest from South America who did it a few years ago and he went too high and didn’t come back. “It wasn’t really inspired by the film ‘Up’! — There are many similarities but Tom has been wanting to do something like this for a lot longer. “It’s nice for him that he has finally fulfilled his dream. When he wanted to come down he had to cut a few balloons. The League of Adventurists, based in Bristol, was formed 12 years ago and members now plan to introduce a competition based on cluster ballooning. Tom’s wife Jenny, 37, is also a director of the League of Adventurists Company which organizes trips to races and summits as well as non-competitive adventures. They organized The Mongol Derby, a 1,000km horse race with 40 riders, and the Ice Run, a motorbike ride across a the world’s biggest frozen lake in Russia. Tom admitted: “Jenny was not overly delighted with my plan.” The couple have two daughters, Bella, four, and Lily, two, and live in Bristol. Tom said: “I came here to see if we could organize the world’s most ridiculous air race and after that flight, I’m more convinced than ever that we can.” The balloons were filled with helium in a warehouse and stored overnight, before being tied together and weighed down with canisters of the gas. Once the chair was attached, Tom cut the tether and was lifted into the air where he then drifted on the breeze.